Let’s get this out of the way – Jim McDonell is a Conservative; I’m a Liberal. If you believe that all’s fair in war and politics, you now have sufficient justification to dismiss this piece as a partisan attack. Based on that assumption, you might also believe that McDonell did nothing wrong in invoking Godwin’s law in the Legislature. You could even go so far as to tell yourself I’m being unfair by bringing this up after the matter was settled; maybe I’m the one that should be reprimanded for being so callous.

My goal here is to prove why this really is a serious, non-partisan issue and make clear why it is so important McDonell offer a real apology for his comments.

Let’s start with the exact words McDonell used and have caused such a firestorm:

There can be no misrepresenting this statement. “Canada declared war on a tyrant – that’s what we’re seeing here.” “The people of Nazi Germany didn’t know what was going on” which is what McDonell says he’s experiencing in Ontario. Jim McDonell, the Member of Provincial Parliament for Stormont, Dundas and South Glengarry, is making an unequivocal comparison between the democratically elected Premier of Ontario (one who just passed legislation with the support of the Progressive Conservatives, including McDonell himself) to Adolf Hitler, the man responsible for the Holocaust.

It’s a sad but true reality that offensive rhetoric and elementary-school level taunts get passed back and forth all the time in the Legislature; heckling is the political equivalent to “your momma” jokes. Perhaps McDonell thought he was being clever and cheeky and would get high fives all around from his caucus colleagues. See what I did there? McGuinty = Hitler. Ooh, burn! Props for a good dig!

But that wasn’t the case, was it?

One of McDonell’s own caucus colleagues was so mortified by what McDonell said, he felt compelled to apologize on the SDSG MPP’s behalf via Twitter:

McDonell clearly didn’t think his Nazi analogy was such a big deal. Why would Peter Shurman feel the need to tweet an apology over it?

Peter Shurman is the PC MPP for Thornhill. He also happens to be Jewish. I’m sure this won’t come as a surprise to Jim McDonell, but about 6 million Jewish civilians were killed by the Nazis. They were evicted from their homes, separated from their families, sent to Concentration Camps, tortured, shot, gassed and burned in ovens. What might shock McDonell is the fact that this wasn’t some sort of covert military operation by the Nazi government that the German people didn’t know about. German civilians participated in Kristallnacht. They played Juden Raus at home. They even competed, in capitalist fashion, for the business of building the crematoriums.

Whatever our political differences, Shurman and I have something in common which, to my knowledge, McDonell doesn’t – we both have loved ones that suffered unspeakable horrors at the hands of the Nazis. To us, making light of the Holocaust is like making drinking and driving jokes to someone whose family was killed by a drunk driver, except about 6 million times less funny. We’re not alone in this; McDonell’s thoughtless quip has elicited a strong response from across theprovincial news spectrum. Not only were his words not amusing, they were actively hurtful. The right thing to do here would be for McDonell to apologize and promise never to make such an ill-conceived and ignorant comment again.

But he did offer an apology, you might say. All’s said and done, it’s water under the bridge. Move on. Let’s look at what that apology entailed:

So, if we’re to buy into McDonell’s spin, his initial comment was just his own way of commemorating a World War II related anniversary as his colleague was saying/because it hadn’t been brought up. There was nothing blatantly offensive in his wording, but you know, if a couple people misinterpreted his comparing the Ontario government to the Nazis, he’ll withdraw to be nice.

Sorry, Jim, but that’s not good enough.

You’re original intent was pretty damned clear, if not well thought-out; “Canada declared war on another tyrant and that’s what we’re seeing here.” Nobody has misinterpreted anything; you directly compared Dalton McGuinty to Hitler. You can’t retroactively reframe your words to make the problem you started go away; Hansard has an unforgiving memory.

It’s not just me who is duly unimpressed with this milquetoast non-apology. Here’s B’nai Brith Canada’s response to McDonell’s withdrawal:

Again, you might ask why the big deal? Isn’t this all just a tempest in a teapot?

There are two ways you can interpret the SDSG MPP’s comments as offensive – one, he’s insulting our democracy by comparing our Premier to Hitler. Do you think it would be appropriate to compare, say, Stephen Harper to Osama bin Laden? Both ordered planes onto perceived enemy territory, right? No, that wouldn’t be appropriate – in fact, it would be irresponsible. It is likewise asinine to compare Harper to Hitler; I have taken a few people to task for doing just that. Hitler ordered the murder of millions of civilians and sparked a war that marks a low point in human history. Any analogy that invokes Hitler is like comparing an apple to an atom bomb.

But it’s the second level of offensiveness that is most egregious. In making a flippant comparison between Nazi Germany and Ontario – and doing so in the official record of the Ontario Legislature – McDonell is undermining the memory of the Holocaust. Worse, he’s doing so at a time when we really need to be reflecting on the lessons of World War II.

This is precisely why so many hate groups are trying to convince us the Holocaust was a pro-Zionist plot that was either made up or at least severely exaggerated. It’s the same rationale behind the Nazi book burnings – if you can erase knowledge of past atrocities, it becomes a lot easier to repeat them. Today’s purveyors of hate are trying to convince us that Hitler has been misrepresented to history by ethnic partisans with an axe to burn. Not only does this message revictimize those who suffered the Holocaust, but it puts us that much closer to repeating history.

We all know how spin works – you cherry-pick the statements that support your arguments and disregard the rest. If those statements come from elected officials, so much the better. Picture what a Holocaust denier could do with a statement like McDonell’s: “Even elected officials in Canada don’t think Hitler was all that bad, they’re comparing him to a sitting Premier.”

Clearly none of this crossed McDonell’s mind when he compared McGuinty to Hitler. That’s the problem; for all the reasons stated above, it should have. This is why his “I’m sorry if people misrepresented my intent” is just not good enough; he needs to make it clear to the world that, as an elected official representing constituents in Ontario, he understands that it is absolutely wrong to belittle the Holocaust in any shape or form. He owes it to the people who voted for him to take ownership for his statement and apologize for it.

He can still save face over this, if he acts quickly. Were I in his shoes, or those of his staff, I would be setting up a formal apology in the Legislature, followed by a visit to the Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre to learn a bit more about just how bad the Holocaust was and why glib analogies are so hurtful. McDonell could then read a Statement in the Legislature sharing what he has learned.

Of course, it’s McDonell himself who must make the choice to take ownership of his statement and remedy his mistake appropriately. Nobody’s going to put a gun to his head and force him. Should he choose not to, it will be his constituents and Party leader, in that order, that he will have to answer to – not a firing squad.

Responsibility; that’s one of the benefits – and duties – of living in a democratic society like Ontario. We’d all do well to remember that.

Craig Carter Edwards

Born and raised in Cornwall, Craig has lived in or travelled to nearly 30 countries and currently resides in North York with his wife and son. A political veteran, Craig brings a wealth of government, private and not-for-profit sectors experience to his current role as strategy consultant for the social entrepreneurship sector.

(Comments and opinions of Editorials, Letters to the Editor, and comments from readers are purely their own and don’t necessarily reflect those of the owners of this site, their staff, or sponsors.)

17 Comments

@ Craig- You hit the nail right on the head! Am very glad that you decided to write about this. It ought to be mandatory to have a detailed history of the Holocaust in school and to visit the museum in Montreal. I watched the Nuremberg trials on television as a child so have avoided the museum but will steel myself and go soon.

It is worthy of note that there have been two memorials held here in Cornwall to commemorate Yom Hashoah, the Holocaust and all genocides, organized by the Cornwall Interfaith Partnership. The people who attended were deeply moved by the presentations.
As difficult as the subject the Holocaust s to discuss, it is vitally important that we have an understanding of what leads up to wholesale genocide, these things don’t just happen out of the blue, a whole series of events lead up to it and they always involve a loss of human rights at the beginning. We really need to be fiercely protective of our rights and not let anything whatsoever infringe on them. I hope your column lights a fire in the hearts of people who are hesitating to speak up and they decide to apply pressure for a real apology. Bless your heart Craig…and the hearts of your ancestors, they must be very proud of you.

Thank you Craig.
As a Jewish woman who lost her grandparents and eight aunts and uncles to the Nazi murder machine, I thank you so much for expressing what so many of us feel and about which we often despair, namely: Holocaust denial and/or a belittling of the magnitude of that horror, usually to serve some other sinister purpose.
Jim McDonell’s comments betray so much insensitivity & gross ignorance of history, the comparison of Premier McGuinty to Hitler borders on the obscene. What you have written here is so important… and I am especially grateful to you because you are not Jewish yourself, although I know your grandfather was imprisoned by the Nazis.
Holocaust denial is the brazen stuff of nightmares, an insidious & insulting threat to Jews making us victims twice over; but not only to Jews… everyone suffers if we allow truth itself to be tortured on the rack of self-service or ethnic hatred, twisted & broken to the point of being unrecognisable.
We must beware of moral relativism – there is no reasonable analogy here.
Such comparisons are grossly offensive and transcend political exigencies of Ontario in September of 2012. A real, considered, contrite apology from McDonell is in order – not an offhand dismissal of wrongdoing.
Bravo Craig! Well done. May you go from strength to strength!

..there was a time when the liberal govnt actually stood for something..other than the party that drove Ontario into a welfare province..not shocking to hear from one throwing rotten eggs all the way from North York. You’re missing the “shock” value that a swastika brings to the table Craig..Instead of hanging off Jamie’s coat tails..come up with something original..Jim should not only apologize..he should “unequivcolly” apologize..just doesn’t have the same bang for your buck..Jamie caught the story at the right time..all that’s left are scraps now..pretty much what the liberal government feeds Ontarions.

Ferris – I don’t work for the government. Nice try. This isn’t a “political wedge” issue – there is no single MPP in the Leg, or Ontarian in the province, that benefits from making light of attrocities.

McDonell didn’t mean anything by his words any more than Escobar meant anything by his eye black. That just demonstrates ignorance, and McDonell has been in politics long enough to know better.

All he has to do is offer a proper apology to correct the record in Hansard and then think before he speaks next time. As soon as that happens, I’ll consider the matter settled.

..there is a reason why Peter Parker and Clark Kent are such successful jornalists and photographers..”they themselves” are the headlines “brilliant”…now Craig, I don’t expect you to scale skyscrapers or leap tall buildings in a single bound…but I do expect you to write your own material..to say that this is not a “political wedge” issue while clearly identifying yourself as a political opponent to Jim, doesn’t jive with me..you should have drawn devil horns and a big pair of boobs on Jims pic..would have been hilarious..now that’s journalism!

Sadly for McDonell, he has waited way too long to offer a retraction and sincere apology. If he were to do it now, it would be obviously forced, and not of his free will or genuine. His career has been severely damaged. We all make mistakes and say stupid things. It’s how we handle our screw-ups that matters the most.

I am reading a great book called “In the Garden of Beasts” written by Erik Larson which focuses on Gov and behind the scenes politics during Hitler’s reign. WOW….a real eye opener, at least for me. Hopefully, we never live through something like that again.

As for the MPP, I honestly believe it was an innocent comment that he used to prove a point he was trying to make. In the heat of a debate, sometimes things are said which are not a true description of the messenger or his character.

UPDATE: After having a conversation with McDonell’s Caucus Colleague Peter Shurman, I have been informed the SDSG MPP did in fact provide a rather heartfelt letter to Frank Dimant of B’Nai Brith Canada, wherein he apologized directly for his statement (and not just how others interpreted it).

And good on him for doing so. Everyone makes mistakes and, in the cut-and-parry of televised politics, you are more likely to wear those mistakes publicly than the average bear. As McDonell has recognized he made a mistake, he really deserves to have his public record reflect that fact. I would encourage him to either post or paraphrase that letter in a public forum so that this can be forever put behind him.

Gee….I have said it many times “everyone makes mistakes” and that it was an innocent comment made in the heat of a debate. This was not said maliciously…..he isn’t that type of man. Don’t be so quick to judge and condemn….we are all humans and no one is perfect.

It appears as though the media once again wins in stirring controversy by misinformation or misrepresenting the context in which a statement was given.

Mr. McDonnell in no way compared the liberal minister to the Nazi regime, but to an individual with in the state. The term tyrant only refers to an individual and their thirst for power as well as how they gain dominance.

Originally a Tyrant was an individual who illegally stole government power. Look it up if you doubt me. I think we need to keep Goodwins law off the table as it clouds the context the statement was intended. However Goodwins law is a money maker for media.

Remember in history as well, there are much worse tyrants then the one we all know and refer to, Genghis Kahn, The Mongol Empire. More recently George.W. Bush

Well Craig, How do you like your Liberals now? Your hero could not cut the mustard. He ran away from all his scandals, putting the interest of himself and his party ahead of the interest of the people of Ontario. We have a job and dept crisis with a growing dept of 14 billion. My great grandchilden will be paying for past corruption of this government.This is not the way to go out.